presentation family faith

CHURCH OF THE PRESENTATION

A welcoming Catholic community leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ through Word, Worship, and Outreach.

271 W. Saddle River Rd. • Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 • ph: 201-327-1313

Family Faith Volunteers

Contact Marilou Tenazas, Ext. 815,  mtenazas@churchofpresentation.org

Are you a great storyteller? Do you like working with audio-visual equipment or have a knack for photography, music or know the ins and outs of a web page? Do you have experience as a catechist? If you said yes to one or some of these questions this ministry is for you. 

Invest in your own renewal and in the healthy faith life of the parish by becoming a Faith Faith Formation Volunteer. Learn on the job, with lots of guidance and support. Parents with school age children rely on the efforts of community members, both as models of Christian living, and as volunteers who help the parish provide a wide range of learning opportunities for their families. The work and time commitments are minimal, but the rewards are great. 

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Family Faith Formation

Create a path forward that is best for your families with our resources which include home and church experiences.

Formation Resources

Mend is a first Reconciliation family experience designed to equip parents to teach, share faith, and pray with their children as they lead 7 family meetings in their home through a variety of hands-on and innovative activities.

Families will encounter Jesus and experience the beauty of the Mass as it connects to daily life by building puzzles, baking, reading Scripture, engaging in meaningful conversation, and much more!

Claim is a Baptism parent experience, with a special component for godparents. Over 4 at home parent meetings and 1 godparent meeting they be inspired to live out their faith in their homes. Makes the perfect gift, too!

Check out our Connection Cards. Perfect for around the dinner table, car rides, icebreakers, and more!

If you are a principal, teacher, director, DRE, group leader, etc. check out our Church and School shop for discounted prices.

We offer custom designed products and presentations to meet your group's specific vision and needs.

Family Faith Formation

What is family faith formation.

The Church proclaims the Gospel to the family . The Christian community is a family of families and is itself the family of God.” (Directory of Catechesis, no. 229) In turn, it is the mission of the family to proclaim the Gospel to the world. “ The family proclaims the Gospel … and is therefore an agent of catechesis” (DC, no. 231).

OED offers parishes Families Forming Disciples , an adaptable, bilingual tool that can be utilized by parishes to advance family catechesis. (For more information about FFD or other family catechesis resources, please contact Patrice Spirou, Family Catechesis and Curriculum.)

Why does the Catholic Church support Family Faith Formation?

By virtue of their ministry of educating, parents are, through the witness of their lives, the first heralds of the Gospel for their children. Furthermore, by praying with their children, by reading the word of God with them and by introducing them deeply through Christian initiation into the Body of Christ-both the Eucharistic and the ecclesial Body-they become fully parents, in that they are begetters not only of bodily life but also of the life that through the Spirit’s renewal flows from the Cross and Resurrection of Christ.

In order that Christian parents may worthily carry out their ministry of educating, the Synod Fathers expressed the hope that a suitable catechism for families would be prepared, one that would be clear, brief and easily assimilated by all. The Episcopal Conferences were warmly invited to contribute to producing this catechism. Familiaris Consortio , 39

What is the role of the Parish Catechetical Leader?

Parish Catechetical Leaders accompany, support and resource families in their faith formation efforts.  Parish leaders walk with catechists and families as they pray together, deepen their understanding and practice Catholic traditions, foster faith conversations, receive instruction, and engage in service to others by providing access to family faith formation on a regular basis.

Family Formation Models

There are various models for family faith formation. Please contact Patrice Spirou for more information and check back soon for updated resources!

• Family Faith Formation Resources

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Faith and Family

Through the seasons of Advent and Christmas we focus much on Jesus and Mary. It was through Mary's fiat that Jesus came into the world, fulfilling God's plan to save us from the ravages of sin and death. But the feast of the Holy Family serves to remind us that Mary and Jesus were, with Joseph, part of a family.

Consider the faith of Joseph. In a dream he is told by an angel to rise and take the child and his mother into Egypt, to escape Herod's wrath. We are told in the Gospel according to Matthew that Joseph rose “while it was still night,” and took his family into Egypt. The faith of Joseph is so strong that he does not question the vision, he simply trusts in God. For her part, Mary is so secure in the fact that God has given her Joseph as her husband and protector, that she does not question Joseph's insistence that they leave immediately.

The Gospels are silent at this point until Herod's death allows the Holy Family to return. And so the flight into Egypt and the time the Holy Family spends there, has become the realm of the artists and storytellers.

In 1879 French academic artist, Luc Olivier Merson, completed a remarkable painting, “Rest on the Flight into Egypt.” It depicts Joseph, exhausted, sleeping on the ground before a small campfire. Nearby, Mary and Jesus sleep comfortably in the arms of an Egyptian sphinx. The only light in the scene comes from the Holy Child himself. 

It is a picture of serene calmness. Mary and Joseph are fleeing for their lives but at this moment they are at peace. Mary rests secure in the knowledge that Joseph has positioned himself to protect her and the child from any threat, and Joseph has seen to the relative safety of his wife and son before lighting a fire and allowing himself to rest. Mary and Joseph's faith in each other is as evident and strong as is their faith in God.

Faith begins with family. It is in the family that we learn about God and we learn about ourselves. In the family we learn about our gifts and talents, who we are called to be, and how to use our gifts responsibly.

Family virtues are different from other kinds of virtues and the Church teaches that there is something special to learn from the “Holy Family.” Purity, patience, faith, noble suffering, hope and obedience are all there in the life of the family of Our Lord.

At the core of the family is faith, from the faith of Abraham and Sarah to the faith of Joseph and Mary. God entered into their lives with a miraculous gift. All children are a gift from God. And as we are all someone’s children, we are all gifts from God and ultimately, we belong to Him. God acts upon our families and we must remain open to Him and ready to do His will, in faith.

Pax Vobiscum The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

read more at  www.DeaconLawrence.org

© Lawrence Klimecki

Purchase fine art prints by Deacon Lawrence here.

Deacon Lawrence draws on ancient Christian tradition to create new contemporary art that seeks to connect the physical and the spiritual.. For more information on original art, prints and commissions, Please visit  www.DeaconLawrence.org 

Lawrence Klimecki, MSA, is a deacon in the Diocese of Sacramento. He is a public speaker, writer, and artist, reflecting on the intersection 

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Towers and wall of Donskoy Monastery to be repaired by Moscow city administration

Moscow, May 31, 2019

Several old towers and the wall of the famous Donskoy Monastery in Moscow will be restored, Mosocw mayor Sergei Sobyanin said after visiting the monastery and examining the architectural ensemble.

Funds will be allocated from the city budget for the restoration of 8 towers and 14 sections of the wall, reports Interfax-Religion .

“In Russia, there are not so many active monasteries that survived the Time of Troubles, the war with Napoleon, and the early Soviet years. One such historical monument is Donskoy Monastery. It is a pearl of Moscow. Our entire history is connected with,” the mayor said, reports the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism .

“The ensemble of the monastery is reviving,” said Sobyanin. “But there is still much to do. Restoration will continue with federal and regional funds, and with the donations of benefactors.”

“We just told Vladyka that in order to speed up the restoration of the walls and towers, the main cathedral, the city will actively help,” Sobyanin said after his visit to the monastery.

It is also notable that the people of Moscow themselves help with the restoration work. As Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky explained, people visit the monastery in their free time to offer their time and labor. Any volunteer activity aimed at restoring monuments will receive full support, Medinsky stated.

A hotel for pilgrims will soon open in one of the buildings of the monastery, said abbot Bishop Thomas of Bronnitsy. The restoration of artistic tombstones of the Donskoy necropolis is also carried out with funds from the city budget. 23 such tombs were restored over the summer and it is planned to restore 7 more.

Founded at the end of the 16th century, Donskoy Monastery became both a symbol of faith and strong fortress, its impregnable walls protecting Moscow from attacks from the south. The monastery was continuously expanded and flourished during tsarist times, with the addition of churches, a bell tower, a refectory, and even a small hospital.

The monastery was nearly destroyed following the revolution, but in the end, an architectural museum was arranged in it. The sacred territory was returned to the church in the 1990s, and the restoration of dozens of cultural monuments there has begun in recent years, including, in particular, the restoration of the original appearance of the Church of the Archangel Michael. The necropolis is currently being restored.

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